Performance and Ranking of Equity Mutual Funds in Chile from 1992 to 1995

Abstract

In developed economies, Mutual Funds (MFs) show a poor return performance compared to simple investment strategies. The majority of the empirical evidence regarding the performance of MFs has been obtained using traditional time-invarying estimators. In this research, however, we validate the international evidence in the Chilean MF industry, using both the traditional method and the time-varying method. The time-varying method allows us to obtain time-varying coefficients, yielding robust performance results of the MFs and simple investment techniques. The conclusions of the poor return performance in the Chilean MFs industry can be considered robust due to the method used, in spite of the short time period studied. Also, the results suggest that the capital market regulatory agency could give small investors more information about the MF return performance, including measurements that consider both the return and risk.